The Last Resort
by jdflyerguy
Summary: In the Aftermath of Abeloth's Apocalypse, A GAS agent and a Mandalorian butt heads, but it's not business as usual. Enjoy. 02-18-13 - Just updated the formant and made some changes. Feed back appreciated.
1. Chapter 1 - The Mandalorian

CHAPTER 1

Coruscant. Business district. The setting sun began to hide behind the many pointed spires of a thousand duracrete buildings. The sparkling lights of the city's night life started to appear. Recently however, the night time showing featured more darkness than before. Many of the long standing buildings had been toppled or set aflame by a supernatural seismic upheaval. The eternal force being, Abeloth, before she was defeated by the Jedi and their associates, wreaked mind-boggling havoc on Coruscant's centuries old cityscape.

The city was in a state of recovery. Many businesses and commerce offices were being rebuilt. Some entertainment oriented outfits fell to the bottom of the priority list. Casinos, gaming hotels, and theaters were left alone while living quarters, food distribution warehouses and medical outlets were undergoing reconstruction. It was deemed better to care for immediate physical needs, and let time instead heal the soul of the population.

The lack of activity in these entertainment areas left "dark spots", as they were called, on the Coruscant cityscape. In one of these "dark spots", a close observer could hear the percussive chatter of blaster fire. One might notice a bloom of flame and a line of propulsion exhaust arcing along the horizon and landing in front of one of the burnt out, abandoned buildings.

Samyan Kad, a mercenary in Mandalorian armor strode quietly along the abandoned building's bottom floor. He'd given up the bounty on Jeryald Freelan, in exchange for escaping the Galactic Alliance Security agents that descended on his position just as he was moving into apprehend. It was much better to survive than fight another day and return to Mandalore empty handed, than to be caught and be put out of business for who-knows-how-long in a GAS holding cell. He'd made a short jetpack jump to this abandoned multilevel structure.

Mandalorians weren't held in the best light since the siege on the Jedi temple a year ago, but since the apocalyptic meltdown on Coruscant last month it seem that old trespasses were forgiven for the sake of solidarity and rebuilding of the ruined capital. Samyan would do his part and hunt down missing fugitives with prices on their heads or escaped prisoners and degenerates all over the galaxy. Not for anything like patriotism or planetary duty, but for the credits. It seemed, as of late, that most of his "clientele" took him right to the megapolitan home world of the republic. The disarray and confusion provided extra cover for the galaxy's off scouring.

He entered the building. The center of the structure was a large atrium. It was fifty stories high with every floor having an outcropping of balconies and walkways lining the walls and occasionally connecting opposite sides. It had been a gaming hotel with several overnight rooms on each floor. Starting with the second floor, and every tenth floor after that, the builders traded luxury suites in the middle for an intricate open room gaming area scattered with Sabbac tables and various other stations for games of chance.

The roof, or what had been a roof, was a tremendous skylight with an intricate framework. The transparisteel had been shattered leaving only shards and openings through which all of the cities avian species came and went. It was obvious he'd have the tactical advantage from one of the upper floors. He might even be able to make a jetpack escape through the skylight, but he'd have to get closer, much closer. From here he could make a long jump, drop a dozen levels and find camouflage in Coruscant's undercity.

Keeping as quiet as possible, Samyan strode into the middle of the atrium. Normally, this would totally expose someone who was trying to stay hidden, but the open view also leant very well to the technology in his T-visor helmet. In front of his natural eyes there was a heads up display which gave him constant updates on his surroundings and internal systems. His eye movements were triangulated on the HUD and with a series of blinks he could activate every weapon and internal system hidden in his armor. With a double blink on an icon in the upper right hand corner he brought down the sensor array menu.

His external sensors began to compile a three hundred and sixty degree visual and rotate the panorama in front of his eyes. He examined his surroundings in ninety degree sections, looking for signs of any GAS agent attempting to pursue. He couldn't make out any silhouettes or threatening shapes, but the lights of the city and Coruscant's setting sun shone magic hour lighting through the windows of the building and cast shadows in the most inconvenient of places.

He held perfectly still and activated the motion detecting function. It had a limited range but even if he could detect sudden lighting shifts or resettling dust, it might give him a clue to a stalker's whereabouts. The scan was negative, but his natural senses as a warrior wouldn't let him relax.

He activated the infrared heat sensor function. He saw something.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Agent

CHAPTER 2

Lucas Diran crept through the defunct maintenance shaft with as much stealth as possible. From 50 meters he'd been the only one that had seen the Mando enter the derelict building. He knew how tough it could be to sneak up on and catch a Mandalorian, so he tried a mix of speed and stealth that kept him within visual range and hopefully out of his opponent's audio range.

Dressed in all black, like the GAS special operator he was, Lucas was more suited for the strategic lightning strike method more than for the cat and mouse game he was playing now. His clothing was matte black, long sleeve and supplemented with armor plating guarding his torso - front and back - both shoulders and both knees. The crest of the Galactic Alliance was emblazoned on his right shoulder with a golden emboss. Markings signifying his rank were displayed on the left shoulder plate.

His E11 blaster rifle hung from a dongle attached to the webbing on his chest harness. He had one smaller, single handed side arm holstered to his right leg and an even smaller one secured under his Left arm invisible to the casual glance. And like most GAS operators, he carried a hold-out weapon holstered in his right boot. On his head was a plasteel composite helmet covering his skull cap with a retracting blast shield for eye protection.

_Kkkzzzttt_. "Diran, Sergeant Diran. Status!" his helmet com came to life. It made him flinch, he was concentrating so much. Knowing the com chatter might give away his position, Lucas dialed the volume down and spoke at a whisper.

"This is Diran. I am in pursuit of target, I have eyes on him." he answered. "Moving to subdue and secure, over."

A static drowned response came back. "Sir, I suggest recon only. Do not attempt to engage solo. I have an ETA of ten for back up… do you copy."

Diran let out a sigh, "Eesak is this you?" He asked. Eesak sounded worse than when he'd left him. "How are the others?" Back at the original point of confrontation, one of his men, Relo, was now rolling on the floor in severe pain throughout his body and was nursing a blaster wound to the knee. The other two, Eesak and Noad had problems of their own. They were dealing with upper respiratory burns and were in no condition to pursue anyone.

"Never mind us, sir. We're all medicated and stabilized, and Medlift is coming with our backup. Just stay put."

"Copy that, I'll just keep eyes on him. Diran out." He'd said the words, but he was pretty sure this confrontation was coming to a violent head.

While responding to an anonymous tip, his squad was dispatched to apprehend Jeryald Freelan, a known felon. Freelan apparently had enemies public and private, because five minutes into the pickup, there appeared Kad in all his Mandalorian glory. Push came to shove and the Mando did not want to relinquish his weaponry and come in for questioning. They had him covered with blasters when Relo tried to restrain him. He spun around like lightning and struck Relo several times stunning him, all the time using his body as a shield. It all happened so quick.

After incapacitating Relo, he rocketed away from the conflict and belched flame all over the area. Diran, the squad's sergeant had been the only one _not_ caught off guard by the backwards pointing flamethrower that Samyan Kad had installed on the reverse surface of his jet pack. Diran was safely out of the way by the time he heard that whine of the jetpacks engine chamber. But Eesak and Noad weren't so lucky, their assault gear was flame retardant but their flesh and blood parts weren't. They weren't seriously hurt, just a little singed.

As the bounty hunter arced away from the mêlée, a shower of blaster bolts rained down on their position, random and un-aimed. One of these had caught Relo in the knee, and they were lucky that was all the damage done. There must have been a reverse mounted blaster setup somewhere on his Mandalorian rig that fired backward, more to confuse and scatter his pursuers than to surgically pick off targets. You have to love that Mando ingenuity.

He'd recognized the white armor with the green trim on the shoulders and lower legs. The height and fighting style were a dead giveaway too. Yeah, this was him alright. This was Samyan Kad, wanted for questioning in an assassination style murder and several missing persons cases. No one from his division was ever able to track and apprehend him, and he had just handed four GAS troops their collective rear end. Perhaps today this would all change. When his back up finally arrived, this Mando would be bound and ready for transport, Diran promised himself.

The arc of the warrior's vapor trail ended at the ruins of an old hotel on the same block. This was going to be a one on one confrontation. Diran just had to be smart about how he approached it all. The area had been cleared of reconstruction crews, and his squad incapacitated; there was nothing left to worry about other than doing his job and of course, not dying.

He needed to get altitude on the target, fast. Diran found a service stair well door on the exterior of the edifice. He snapped the plastoid shield down over his eyes and took a deep breath. _Infiltrating now_. He cued to himself. He held his E11 at eye level and started the hunt. His stride was calculated and purposeful, every step intentional like a well rehearsed dance. He ascended up two flights, moving methodically like his training dictated, raking his sight across every corner and shadow of every landing, his upper body rotating at the hip like a factory droid. He cleared every landing platform with care and finally exited the stair well onto a carpeted walk way overlooking the floor of the atrium. That's when he saw him. That white armor with the green trim. He came to a silent stop and took a deep breath.


	3. Chapter 3 - Head to Head

CHAPTER 3

In Samyan's HUD, a red light flashed, a quiet alarm tone beeped repeatedly. Still in infrared mode, the display rotated and sighted a red and orange humanoid silhouette on a background of cold blues and black. The figure was directly behind him, one floor up, in a typical militaristic marksman stance with some type of assault rifle aimed at him.

A blue rectangle highlighted the figure on the HUD and gave off a ping when the range finder marked the distance to the target behind him. When he saw the range, he knew just what he'd do. He blinked with his left eye and a humanoid figure appeared in anatomical position. The image represented him. The figure was decorated with dots on various parts of the body. These represented his armor's weapons systems. He only needed to focus his vision on one of the dots and select a function with his eyes to activate the weaponry.

He focused on the right forearm and double blinked. A dull _ping_ indicated weapons systems were ready to discharge. A couple more blinks and his vision returned to normal except for that familiar red combat filter overlay that would color everything he saw crimson except for all the marked human targets in the area. These showed in yellow. There was only one, one floor up six o'clock. He was ready to fight.

Lucas could see that Kad was obviously scanning the area with whatever sensor array was built into his armor. When his body suddenly froze still in mid-stride, he realized that It had to be now. He raised his voice in his best law enforcing tone. "Don't move! Galactic Alliance Sec…" He was interrupted by the need to duck and evade.

In what was apparently an oft-practiced move, Samyan Kad dipped his right knee, rotated his body around to the left and swung his right fist around and aimed it directly at him. Two tiny muzzle flashes popped up from the Mando's wrist gauntlet, he just dropped and kicked the wall with his left leg and rolled hard and fast to the right.

_KThunk!_ Two projectiles connected by a foot long cord slammed into the duracrete barely an arm's length from his head. Instead of stopping to take aim on one knee and returning fire, Lucas kept rolling. Using both feet and his left arm he scrambled away from the impact point, white-knuckling the E11 pistol grip with his right hand. Now hoping he was far enough away, he dove forward and took cover in a prone position. As he landed the wall he had been standing next to seconds before exploded, opening a large crater where the twin projectiles had embedded themselves.

Samyan completed the follow through of the maneuver by snapping his legs back under him in a ready stance and pressed the detonator switch on his gauntlet to detonate the darts. But his target was too quick.

_Impressive_. Samyan thought. In fact this was an entirely lucky GAS officer or he was just abnormally athletic. _Time to clean up my mess._

He removed both of his blasters from his hip holsters and held them at the ready. He stood, feet shoulder width apart, bent at the knees and eye-activated an icon on his HUD. Two short repulsor blasts exploded under both of his feet, synchronizing his jump he was propelled straight up several meters, just high enough to see eye level the second story floor of the hotel. For the split second at the top of the leap, he saw the GAS soldier rolling and covering. He called that his "quick look". He fired off as many blaster bolts as he could at the man. Before falling all the way back to the atrium floor, he ignited his pack, slowly ascended back to the second floor, simultaneously dishing out a rain of suppression fire in the area the man had taken cover. But he had already moved.

The floor and banister near Lucas Diran exploded with blaster fire. He rolled to his right to make his profile disappear against the wall of the walk way. He heard the whine of the jetpack engine and saw the atrium light up with a diffuse ambient glow. It was time to move now.

Luckily, it appeared that the emergency systems in the hotel had left all the doors open for easy and orderly evacuation. He scampered on all fours into the nearest luxury suite and stumbled through onto his feet. He had to go into evasion mode for now.

From the center of the room, he noticed several doors in all four compass directions from where he stood. They were emergency doors connecting all the rooms. He could see the emergency door in the third room down empty into the second floor gaming room. Sprinting to the open air gaming room, he decided, was his new course of action. The only thing worse than going one on one with a Mandalorian, is to have to do so within close quarters.

Before he could come up with an alternative, blaster fire raked the ceiling, then the back wall and then peppered the floor. As he made a hard right and got out of the way, he heard the sound of heavy booted feet hit the landing and stomp through the door. He was already gone, running full-tilt, hurdling furniture, fallen support girders and various other downed objects in his path.

Samyan dropped onto the second floor landing and entered the room. There were access doors in between each room and he thought he saw the man dart down the one on the left. Doing a quick snapshot around the corner with his head he laid eyes on the GAS soldier running away from him. He entered the walk way and targeted him again with his HUD. Two more projectiles rocketed from his wrist toward the man. At the last second the man dodged left and evaded the missiles. They streaked past him, through the doorway and having lost their velocity, impacted on the floor in the game room. When the explosion came, gaming tables and lounge furniture were thrown about the room.

Lucas Diran recovered from the roll, aimed the E11 back down the corridor where the projectiles came from. He fired off a few bolts to cover himself as he crossed through the last doorway into the game room. He surveyed his options. This was a great place for an ambush. He knew what he would do. He set his trap, slapped down his blast visor and headed quickly to the nearest overturned Sabbac table for cover. _C'mon Lu, This guy ain't slow._

The whine of jet combustion increased and an ambient glow flickered on and off from the corridor as the Mandalorian passed through each room. Like a humanoid death rocket, he blew into the game room and scattered blaster fire in an arc above Lu's head. But just as he thought the bolts would find him, the proximity sensor on the stun grenade by the door sensed the intrusion and exploded.

There was no shrapnel, but the sound combined with the concussion force of the blast was enough to disorient the warrior and slam him mid-flight up against the ceiling. The jetpack redirected and shot the warrior down toward the carpeted gaming room floor not 3 meters away from Lucas. The Mandalorain recovered from the fall and was already purposefully rolling to disperse his impact. He stopped his roll in a crouched position and tapped his wrist a couple of times.

His body language still alive and cognizant, the T-visor face plate of his helmet tracked back to the point of detonation, and then across the floor … and then came to settle on Lucas crouched behind an overturned Sabbac table. The warrior started to draw his left arm up. Instinct took over in Lucas, and before he could stop himself, he was already doing the only thing he had left to do.

_Looks like a good place for an ambush_. Samyan thought to himself, rocketing through each escape door like a Mon Cal underwater circus acrobat. Just before the entrance into the game room, a chime went off in his left ear. _Stang!_ He muttered, _Energy source_. Just as he tried to taper back his speed and evade, a concussion blast turned his visuals into snow-blind confusion. Instantly his internal safety systems buffered the insult to his senses. His sensor threshold spiked temporarily leaving him blind and cutting off all sound. The sensory shutdown was a failsafe against stun grenades, and it was very effective, he'd just have to survive the fall. An unseen force slammed him upward and he felt his jetpack stutter, it reignited and thrust him towards the floor of the game room.

His proprioception took over and he frantically tapped the defeat button on his wrist gauntlet, shutting off the pack. His senses returned in time for him to see the floor of the room rushing at him. He took it on the right shoulder and rolled forward several meters before planting his right foot and stopping his momentum. A couple of taps to his wrist controls, he restarted all the sensory input.

He gazed back at the doorway. Dust and debris settled, there were small fires on the roof and in the game room floor. Samyan activated the combat mode visual turned crimson red and he scanned the room for …

There he was, crouched behind an overturned Sabbac table, highlighted in bright yellow as all flesh and blood targets were. _Oh, he wants to use explosives_. He started to swing his left arm up and that's when the Sabbac table came flying at him at blinding speed, smashing into him, laying him totally out on his back. This time the sensory blackout came from his own vision and hearing fading from the force of the impact to his head.

Before he went totally unconscious, his helmet sensed his pupil dilation and the erratic fluttering of the eyelids. The last thing he saw was a flashing indicator, in the Mandalorian language, informing him that stimulants were about to be released into his blood stream.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Masks come off

CHAPTER 4

Samyan awoke on his back. As far as he could tell, unbound and unfettered. He looked up to see his attacker silhouetted in by small fires burning on the floor and the ceiling behind him. He had removed his GAS helmet and stood there with a handheld blaster aimed at him. He was medium height, blonde and had a combination of soot, dust and sweat streaked on his face. He wasn't overly muscular, but lean and capable in a functional sort of way. And that face, he knew that face.

"Tsk. tsk. What would mom say?" Lucas opened up the conversation.

"Hello, brother." Samyan spoke in a matter of fact way, still groggy from the blow to the head.

"Samyan. You still consider me a brother?" Samyan didn't respond to him. How do I know you're not a Rodie of a Devie under there?" He wondered out loud, and then answered himself. "Not very many people out there that wear Mandalorian armor and call me brother, though." His tone gave way to a more casually conversant tone. "Tell you what. I took off my helmet, why don't you remove yours so I can positively ID you?" He pointed to his head with the blaster.

"I'll pass. Coruscanti air isn't good for my skin … and you might not like the faces I'm making in here. Besides, can't you just use your other skill to confirm who I am? You know, the little talent that no one else is supposed to know you have." Lucas didn't respond this time. This stopped the banter dead in its tracks. "That's right … you can't do without it can you."

"Shut up Sam." Lucas' face changed. His victorious posture melting off of him like candle wax. _I guess it really is him. No one else is supposed to know that._

"You're trying to lead a soldier boy's life and denying that you're really just a lesser man that has to use the Force as a crutch to get you through life." He lifted his torso off the floor, supported by both elbows. "I'm the one with the mask, but you are the one trying to hide every day." He could feel the stims kicking in. "I'm easy to ID. And you knew it was me right from the start. And though you have a hard time figuring out who you are, I know you."

"I had an idea when I saw you evade those det-darts I fired in your direction on the walk way. I had an even better idea when I saw you running with impossible speed through the emergency doors. I was pretty sure then, but I needed to be absolutely sure. I fired two more det-darts on you blind and the force alerted you, and all of a sudden, with unreal skill you dodged out of the way, at the last second like no one else could. And the grand finale, the flying Sabbac table, sealed up my little hypothesis perfectly. You should just wear the robes of the Jedi Order and get it over with."

His brother's observations had taken him off guard. He could evade most things with force enhanced speed, but he was having trouble with the truth.

"Do you have to rely on force tricks for every criminal you apprehend or am I the only one that gets smashed with furniture. I bet you don't even realize you're using it."

Lucas' face flushed with anger. "I don't need the force to do my job." Lucas maintained, clinging for a foothold in the confrontation again.

"You didn't have to pursue me, but you're sibling rivalry ego couldn't be sated, could it, Lu'ika? You have to pound out big brother to prove how awesome you are." He jabbed a finger at him. "But you couldn't do it could you? You couldn't beat me without using your crutch … the Force."

"You're one to talk. All decked out in your Beskar armor. It's as much as a crutch as using the force. What are you without the suit?" He fired back.

"I'm a warrior. A warrior is a warrior at heart first before he picks up his first vibroblade. I earned this armor. It was given to me by those who felt I deserved it. Anyone tries to just put on the Beskar'gam for fun is liable to get his shebs kicked in."

"Well someone thought I deserved these." He patted His left shoulder for emphasis. "I earned my rank, brother."

"Do they even know you're just a Jedi under that facade?" Samyan acted as if he hadn't heard him. "Wouldn't that disqualify you from the GAS? They'd suspect you of cheating just to pass the physical qualifiers."

"I'm not a Jedi, not anymore." He had bowed out of the Jedi order to pursue a career in law enforcement. He didn't want to leave Coruscant like the rest of the order had in the wake of the disaster that was Abeloth. He had opted to find his own way, make his own destiny, to prove himself a man. "The force is just … a last resort… and anyways I'm arresting you now, so just keep your hands where I can see them."

_It's not my hands you have to worry about_. He smiled under his mask. "You could always let me go, for old time's sake."

_Left eye blink…_

"You're joking right? Not after shooting one of my men and assaulting all of us."

"This was all a setup, wasn't it." He just needed a few more seconds.

_Anatomical position … Focus on the feet … "_Just to get to me. It was a trap."

"No. We were there to apprehend Jeryald Freelan, we were tipped off to his whereabouts. It was an anonymous tip."

_Interesting_. This made Samyan pause and consider something.

"We didn't expect to find you." Lucas continued. "But you made this whole thing go wampa. You could have just surrendered and showed some ID, your Guild credentials, anything! We could have sorted this out."

"And give up my money? I could have taken him back to my client and they would have disposed of him in their own way, he wouldn't be taking up a Coruscanti detention cell, and using up reconstruct money."

_Double blink. Drop-down menu. Select feature_.

"Well he's not in custody with us, so don't worry about that." Relaxing his posture, Lucas continued. "You know, generally, family disputes aren't expressed with energy weapons and explosives."

Lucas started to feel a sliver of pity for his brother. Samyan had run away at a young age and caught the interest of a certain group of mercenaries who took him in and adopted him. He took the name of the clan head and earned his Beskar armor by supporting their missions and eventually proving his metal in the heat of battle. Since then, he'd taken up the family business, caring only about profit and his new set of brothers and sisters. "Look I have never lied on a report before, but we can play this action down, I can get them to go easy on you." His voice became resigned. "I know you're my brother by blood, but I still have a job to do."

"Hmm. Mom always did like you best." _Double blink._ "Now that I know Freelan is still on the loose…"

The hair on the back of Lucas' neck stood up. Trouble was coming. "Wha … don't …" Too late.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Gloves come off

CHAPTER 5

Without warning Samyan Kad raised his boots off the ground and aimed the soles of his feet in the direction of his former brother. With a concussive burst, two micro pulses of repulsor energy shot from his boots and slammed into Diran's chest. The force of the blast sent him flying backward five meters into the closest wall, knocking the wind out of him. The recoil in turn sent Samyan sliding across the floor. He used the momentum to smoothly transition to a prone position and ignited the jet pack.

"See you later, Lu'ika. Say hi to mom for me."

Lucas flew back. His brother had caught him off guard. He felt a concussive burst strike him. He flew backward, losing his grip on the blaster, sending it twirling out into the atrium. He struck a wall hard and crumpled to the ground. Flat on his back, he strained to take his next breath. He heard the whine of Samyan's jets, he know what was coming next. The room filled with flames and he knew the backward facing blaster mounts would begin to fire randomly along with the flames to cover his escape. It was time for his last resort.

From his boot, his hold-out weapon launched out and slammed into his hand. The ignition activated by the impact, there was a _snap-hiss_ sound as a blue blade of energy rose from the handle and began to intercept bolts of energy showering down on him from his opponent. He sent them into walls and furniture in the room with ease and accuracy. He hadn't once had to call his lightsaber into action in the past two years, but the current situation, he felt, warranted it.

It was just like he remembered, the energy blade acting as a conduit allowing the force to flow through him, into his lightsaber and guiding his movements, making his senses acute. He had to maneuver from a position resting his lower back, kicking his legs, simultaneously dodging and blocking.

The flurry ended almost as soon as it had started. But his lungs were oxygen starved with the extra effort, and they ached to take in a deep breath. The air around him was superheated and suffocating him. Flames licked at his clothing. If he didn't disperse the heat quickly, he would burn or suffocate to death. He drew the force within himself and then released a spherical kinetic blast that emanated outward cleared the room of the flame and heat.

The oxygen was gone now too, along with any air molecule within 10 meters in any direction for that matter. The floor buckled, the ceiling rippled, wooden and plasteel furniture were suddenly sent on trajectories with such great force they disintegrated in mid air. He now existed in a molecular black hole, just him and the force. The blade blinked out, but he could still sense the focusing crystal in the hilt. He held on to consciousness and concentrated, calming himself, slowing his heart rate, just like he'd been taught. With the atmosphere gone, there was just silence until seconds later, fresh air moved into the vacuum and then he could breathe again.

That large transparisteel bay window should do the trick. Samyan targeted the window with his last set of Det darts. They each stuck into the window cracking it and when the right button was pressed on Samyan's gauntlet, the det-cord connecting the two, exploded. A few more blasts from his wrist mounted blaster and the pane splintered heavily, he hoped that he could gain enough momentum to break through when he, in turn impacted the pane.

Then another force hit him from behind, a force he didn't create. It doubled his speed and he slammed into the damaged transparisteel window with more than enough velocity to break through. He veered and wobbled until finally, he steadied. He calculated an escape route for the under-city and increased his thrust.


	6. Chapter 6 - Introspection

CHAPTER 6

Samyan Kad began to think. His brother must have released a blast of his own, a force shove? Whatever they called them. Maybe for his own protection from the flames or from the blaster fire, he had heard the lightsaber come to life … but that force blast definitely was the reason he was able to escape. Was his former brother really trying to help him?

Funny, he grew up the only child in a "force family" that was not touched by the force. He saw the differences in his parent's adoration toward him and his two brothers and then his little sister. Maybe the differences were just imagined, maybe they didn't exist at all. He renounced his family because he thought the force had shut him out, singled him out and would never then be of any help to him. But here it was helping him, touching him second-hand. He didn't need anyone's charity … although he needed it this time.

Not that he'd consider making amends just yet, he was committed to his new family on Mandalore. And now there was the issue of the anonymous tip off regarding Jeryald Freelan that had drawn him and Lucas there. It'd be interesting to discover the entire back story there.

Lucas Diran stood up off the floor. He returned the lightsaber hilt to its hiding place. He looked up and followed the vapor trail out the window that his brother had shattered and flown through. He heard foot falls in the atrium and heard shouts of the backup squads arriving to help him. He realized he'd had his helmet off and had been out of touch with his people.

He descended back into contemplation. For the longest time, he'd tried to put off the terminal do-gooder image of his Jedi upbringing. He'd never match up to his father's reputation or his mother's for that matter. He didn't want to be the social rebel Samyan was, and he couldn't match up to his eldest brother's selfless heroism and he certainly was not the force savant his younger sister was. He'd have to settle for who he was now. But who or what was he.

Maybe his forays into law enforcement and crime fighting were him just trying to ignore the very real Jedi calling. Maybe the force wasn't his to ignore. Perhaps he'd have to consider his current position in a galaxy that didn't want to rely on force users anymore, but seemed to needed them anyway on a regular basis.

Still, he knew how that would go. He'd be like a musician that people aren't interested inn except for his music, or a doctor that people don't bother to talk to unless they need medical advice. He'd be thrust into positions of leadership that he had not earned. He'd have an inordinate amount of responsibility thrust on him because people expected him to be able to handle it - just because he could use the Force. He'd have the microscope of unrealistic moral expectations hanging over his life all the time. It was nice to be a regular person once in a while. But could the galaxy wait for him to get over his self-centeredness?

His brother Samyan Kad, was the only non-force sensitive in a family of force-powerful beings, yet somehow both of them had become the black sheep of the Diran family. It was apparent that they both now had some emotional and spiritual homework to do. _Till next time big brother, till next time_. He walked away, sore, wondering how he was going to explain all this to his Captain.

END


End file.
